God, money and me

Wednesday, June 14, 2006
By Walt F.J. Goodridge
Special to the Saipan Tribune


The only way to take control of your life, raise your standard of living and move beyond merely surviving is to create your own unique product or service that you offer to increasing numbers of people in exchange for the things of value that you desire. This simple formula applies to countries as well as people. A self-sufficient economy has its own products or services of value to export to the world. Similarly, a self-sufficient individual has something of value to exchange in the global marketplace. That thing of value is based on your natural talent, skill, or interest—in other words, your passion!


Your image of God
is how you pattern your self
Your God’s views on money
is what determines your wealth

How does God feel about money? How much money does God have? When I ask people to answer those questions, I get a wide range of answers. Some people who’ve been working on their belief systems about money will readily answer that God wants us to be abundantly provided for, and that money is a means to an end that God put here for us to use. At the same time, there are others who answer that in God’s eyes money is evil. Or, that according to scripture, "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven", and that this represents a condemnation of money and wealth. These conflicting views we imagine to be God’s views on money. You may ask, however, why this is important as it relates to being a Saipanpreneur?

If you believe in a deity, your perception of God sets the standards for the ideal you. We all secretly aspire to be God-like in our behavior. If so, it’s unlikely that you aspire to have qualities, beliefs and behaviors that are opposed to those that you attribute to God. The reasoning is "If God thinks less of money, then I should too." "If God doesn’t need money, then neither do I." How can you aspire to accumulate something that you believe makes you less than holy? The answer is you can’t. Therefore, unless and until you see money as something that God created, and moreover, that God wants you to have, then you’ve already doomed yourself to poverty even before the journey begins.

If you see money as an expression of the abundance of the wealth that God has created, and that you are entitled to share in, then you will be on your way to wealth. If, on the other hand, you feel money is one of man’s evil inventions that is far removed from the realm of the godly, then you’ll surely have a difficult time attracting and accumulating it in your life. For which person wants to be ungodly in anything they do? I’m suggesting here that your ultimate success in turning your passion into profit may have deeper influences that require more than business techniques and tools to adequately address. Excellent books have been written which address the issue of money and the connection to your spiritual and emotional growth. Three of my favorites are The Trick To Money is Having Some by Stuarte Wilde, Spiritual Economics by Eric Butterworth and The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom by Suze Orman.


MONEY AND SELF-WORTH

"For some, the love of money is the root of all evil,
but for all, the love of self is the root of all money"

They say that the love of money is the root of all evil. However, if you want to turn your passion into profit, you need to replace that belief with the understanding that the love of self is the root of all money. You may envision great success and wealth for yourself, but if at your core you have a limited view of yourself, then you will never do what’s necessary to create that reality of success.

Money is a means of exchange. It is a means of measuring value. As such, it not only measures the value of the things you create, but it measures the value you place on yourself. This is not to say that your value to yourself is measured in monetary terms, but on some level, we all have a value assigned to what we do, what we deserve as a result, and thus, who we are.

If, as a result of your current opinion of what’s possible for you, you don’t see yourself earning money in other ways, or at higher levels than you do now, then it will not happen with any degree of satisfaction.

If someone offered you a job for $3,000 per year less than you were currently making, would you take it? All other things being equal, you probably wouldn’t because you have an opinion of the market value of what it is you have to offer, and you know that you have bills to pay. Therefore, you have a bottom line income that you’ll always insist upon. At the same time, if someone offered you double what you were making for the same work, you might take it, but you might also feel guilty for being overpaid, and might even do things to bring your pay down to a level that makes you more comfortable.

Sound crazy? It’s been shown that even when given the chance to earn substantially more, people’s opinions of what they’re worth will often override, and they’ll talk themselves back to a figure that is more in alignment with their self-worth.

There once was a salesman who impressed his higher-ups by generating enough sales to make $50,000 in yearly commission for himself. His higher-ups were impressed because the geographical area in which he was selling had never before yielded that amount of sales. The next year, he was assigned to a high volume area, and strangely, did just enough sales to make $50,000, yet again. It was discovered that he thought of himself as a "$50,000-a-year salesperson." It didn’t matter whether he was placed in a traditionally high sales area, or a historically poor sales area, he always managed to do $50,000 per year in commissions. He produced a reality that matched his opinion of himself regardless of the potential or the limitations others thought were there.

Many of us do the same thing. They key to success, therefore, is to constantly work at raising your self-concept of what you and your talents and your creations are worth. Practice affirmations that reinforce that belief. Interact with others who are earning more than you are to raise your belief level of what’s possible. Find a mentor who is where you wish to see yourself. And constantly remind yourself that you are a divine child of an infinitely rich creator and, God knows, abundance is your birthright.

* * *

Until next week, remember, success is a journey, not a destination!—Walt

(